


[untitled - River in the Labyrinth]

by saintofbeasts



Category: Firefly, Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-07
Updated: 2010-05-07
Packaged: 2017-10-09 08:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/85151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saintofbeasts/pseuds/saintofbeasts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And what does a trap look like?</p>
            </blockquote>





	[untitled - River in the Labyrinth]

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Katarik](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katarik/gifts).



The ground is cold beneath her bare feet, stone instead of metal. The corridors are long beneath the sky, walls crumbling in sections, towering in others. It's easy to focus herself here in a way she never could aboard Serenity - there's no Simon with worried eyes and never-ending words. There's no Kaylee to dance with or frighten, but flame-colored creatures that smile mockingly as they sing around here. It makes River smile to think of Jayne here, comparing weaponry with the axes of goblins. It's huge and strange and more real than reality, and she can stop to hear herself think - but there's no time for that.

The man with the predator's eyes smiled when he told her about this place, this labyrinth. He told her that if she could make it out in the time given, she could keep the skills she gains here. If she just passed the test, she could think clearly again, no more smeared windows in and out of her mind.

It's nothing like the Academy, she reminds herself as she rounds a corner. The walls never look the same. This is organic order. No antiseptic smells, no needles, fantastically bizarre creatures everywhere.

It's a test and a trap nonetheless, and she clings to this fact as she slows to a walk in front of a tree whose branches are covered in golden lights. They shine like fireflies, little flickers in the branches, and she reaches out to a low-hanging branch to see if they are real. A tiny, winged creature flits away from her approaching hand with a truly foul curse, and she shies away.

It's a fairy tale of Earth-That-Was, she tells herself. Nothing is what it looks like, and everything is a symbol. This doesn't feel like a laboratory, but I am still a mouse, and the end of this maze has been baited for me. Thirteen hours and I could lose this, again, or even remain trapped here-

She can't help the frisson that follows that thought. She's been in the labyrinth for seven hours and thirteen minutes and she doesn't have time to decide if it's excitement or horror or fear. There's a castle to find.


End file.
